AccountabilityWorks (AW) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting educators, parents, and policymakers interested in quality assessments and research-based policies and practices.

AW supports well-designed and effectively executed systems and practices that help those involved with elementary and secondary education to ensure that students achieve academic success. We emphasize careful development because poorly designed or implemented approaches, however well-intentioned, can lead to results that are self-defeating, wasteful or unfair.

We believe that the most effective type of accountability is that which is self-imposed; goals, measures and interventions that are adopted directly by educators, parents and students can result in the greatest benefit.

Recent Activities

With the Education Consumers Foundation, AW developed a comprehensive cost analysis that identified $122 Million in savings from restructuring the new teacher pipeline in Tennessee toward greater reliance on alternative certification. For more information, go here.

Supported in part by a US Dept. of Ed. grant, AW developed a Web-based arithmetic assessment tool. To find out about Arithmetic Testing OnLine (ATOL) go here.

One of AW's largest ongoing activities is the Comprehensive English Language Learning Assessment (CELLA) designed to measure English proficiency of English Language Learners. More information may be found here.